Just One Look

Posing as a blind teacher in Cooper's Corner, undercover FBI agent Ethan Granger is thankful for the dark glasses he wears. Because when he meets postmistress Alison Fairchild, if she could see into his eyes, she'd see he is in love. Original.

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Alison Fairchild swerved her light blue compact into the parking space and killed the engine. She had just under an hour before she was to be at the rehearsal for her best friend's wedding, and she was never late for anything. Then again, maybe she should be late tonight, make a grand entrance and see the look on everyone's face when they got their first glimpse of Cooper's Corner's new and vastly improved postmistress.

No, that would be too obvious. She'd just take a minute to check in with her mother and get her reaction. Then she'd be on her way. She climbed from behind the wheel and practically danced across the parking lot, her high heels clicking on the concrete, the full skirt of her silk dress swishing against her thighs.

The dress was new, a splurge from yesterday's New York shopping adventure. It was a full two inches shorter than anything else in her closet and cut low enough that a person could actually see a shadow of cleavage, if the person looked really closely. All part of her new image.

Of course, the crowning touch sat right smack in the middle of her face. The Pinocchio curse was gone, and in its place was an adorable, bobbed, upturned nose. What she hadn't been blessed with she'd just bought and paid for.

Smiling, she reached up and traced the outline of her nose for at least the thousandth time since the surgery three weeks ago. Yep. It was still there, changing her appearance so much that her own mother might not even recognize her, and making her feel - well, downright pretty. Not gorgeous. She didn't look like one of those sleek, airbrushed models in the fashion magazines or a Hollywood movie star, but for the first time in her twenty-eight years, she felt really good about her appearance.

She rang the doorbell and waited. Even after a year, it seemed strange that her mother would live in this tiny apartment while Alison knocked around all by herself in the rambling family home. But once Nora Bashelda Fairchild made up her mind she was going to do something, there was no stopping her, though Alison had tried. Her mother wanted a smaller place, a cozy spot of her own, and she'd decided that at her age she should get what she wanted.

As for Alison, she loved the family home and all its memories, especially the ones of her and her dad shooting baskets in the backyard and his reading her books like Johnny Tremain and Call of the Wild in front of the hearth on cold winter nights. They had been exceptionally close, and she still missed him. Her mother must, too. She'd never even dated another man in all the years since her husband's death. Dale Fairchild had been a man among men.

A few seconds later Nora swung open the door, glanced at Alison and then at her watch. "Alison. What a surprise! But you should have called before driving over."

"What kind of greeting is that after I've been gone for three weeks?" She hugged her mother and stepped into the room, turning so that her mom would get the full effect.

Her mother busied herself straightening the pillows on the sofa. "I'm glad to see you, of course. I just didn't know you were coming over tonight. I already have dinner plans, but I can postpone them."

"No need. I'm on my way to the wedding rehearsal."

"Wedding?"

"Wendy Monroe and Seth Castleman's. Don't tell me you forgot."

"Only for a minute. I've been on the phone with your sister."

Explanation enough. "So, what's Madge's latest catastrophe?"

"She's changing jobs. Actually, she got fired."

"Again?"

"Yes, but don't take that tone of voice. It wasn't her fault this time. She spilled a little water on one of the customers. Can you imagine someone getting fired for something so harmless?"

No - which was why Alison figured the explanation was a gross understatement. It wasn't that she was totally unsympathetic, but Madge managed to quit or get fired from at least three jobs a year - in a slow year.

"I'm sure Madge will get another job before a week is out." Still no comment on her nose. Alison turned so that her mother could catch a glimpse of her profile, then walked a few steps closer and turned to face her again. Finally her mom looked right at her.

"Wendy is going to be a beautiful bride," Nora said.

"Have you seen the wedding dress?"

"Mother, are you wearing your contact lenses?"

"I am, but I don't know what my wearing contacts has to do with Wendy's wedding dress."

"Nothing. I've seen the dress, and it's gorgeous."

"I do love weddings." Nora propped herself on the edge of the cushioned arm of the sofa, worry creases settling in around her eyes.

"I know, and you hope I'll have one someday. I still plan to, Mother, if and when I meet the right man."

"I didn't say a word." Nora stared at Alison for a minute, then stood up and walked around the sofa to straighten the pillows for the second time.

"Is something the matter?" Alison asked. "You're not sick, are you?"

"Never felt better. I was just thinking about your sister. I wish she was more like you - you know, steady and dependable. Why, you've been with the post office ever since you graduated from college."

"Steady and dependable, that's me." And mud ugly until three weeks ago. She touched the tip of her nose one more time. "Do you notice anything different about me?"

Nora tilted her head to the side and gave Alison a scrutinizing stare. "You changed your hairstyle."

"I got it trimmed and shaped at one of the hot salons in New York."

"It looks nice, but I bet you paid way too much."

"Not if it looks good." She turned again, going for the left profile. "Don't you notice anything else, something more ... permanent?"

"Your dress is too short, but I hope that's not permanent. Is it new?"

"I bought it yesterday. Short is in style."

"Maybe in New York."

Hair, the length of her dress, the fact that she'd come by without calling first. The only thing her mother had missed was the one thing Alison had been certain she'd notice first. Three weeks ago, you could have hung laundry from her nose. Tonight it was cute, turned up at the end, an average size. How could anyone not notice, especially her mother?

"You seem upset, dear. Didn't your vacation with Cassandra go well?"

"The vacation went fine. I feel like a new woman."

"That's nice." She glanced at her watch again.

"It wasn't purely a vacation," Alison added. "I had rhinoplasty." There. She'd blurted it out, not at all the way she'd planned.

"You had what?"

"Rhinoplasty. A nose job."

Her mother stared at her critically for a few seconds, then slapped her palm against her cheek as if she were fighting off shock. "Oh, my word. You did. But why?"

"Why? The old one was hideous."

"I loved your nose. It was your dad's nose, you know."

"Dad was six foot three. I'm five-five. I wanted my own nose, one that fit my face."

Nora walked around, studying her from all angles now that she'd finally realized her youngest daughter had gotten a nose job. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were having it done."

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

"A bouquet of flowers is a surprise. Surgery is ... serious. I should have been there."

"It wasn't all that serious. The doctor did it in the morning. I was home long before dinner. Easier than dealing with Mrs. Grubecker when she comes in complaining about the price of stamps."

Nora's hand flew to her chest, as if she were holding her heart in place, a gesture she used too often for it to have an effect on either of her daughters. "What if something had gone wrong? I'd have been the last to know."

"Nothing went wrong, and you're practically the first to know."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Just One Look by Joanna Wayne Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.